


The Selkie's Dream

by Moondal



Category: Celtic Mythology, Scottish Mythology
Genre: Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondal/pseuds/Moondal
Summary: In my head, I return home.
Kudos: 2





	The Selkie's Dream

_ On the nights when the window is left open, I can feel the breeze on my bare skin. I catch the faint scent of salt, and the homesickness in my heart crescendos. I think of the beach, and I long for the feel of smooth seal skin wrapped around my body. In my head, I return home.  _

Wait until nightfall, when the sun doesn’t scorch your skin. Breathe in the ocean breeze, taste the salt in the back of your throat. Feel the motion of the waves. In and out. In and out. Take off your shoes, walk along the edge of the sand. Feel the moisture seep into your socks. Take them off. You don’t need them anymore. Wade into the ocean, feel the coldness of the water. Scoop some into your hands, pour it over your head. Shiver. Feel the wetness of your clothes, feel how they stick to your skin. Take them off. You don’t need them anymore. 

Bare your naked skin to the ocean. Reach your hands into the water, down until they touch sand, down until you feel the leathery seal skin buried beneath. Slip it on. Feel it meld into your skin. Forget the temperature of the water. Forget the bruises that pepper your back. Those are human thoughts. You don’t need them anymore. Dive into the sea. Swim out into the open water. Ignore the ruins you pass, the apprehension they bring, the warnings they say. Dive deeper. And deeper. Until you see the shining towers of the palace of the sea. Your birthplace. Your home. Here, your sisters flock together in a pod, in a neverending circling dance. Around and around. Here you don’t have to hide from him. Here you aren’t trapped in a human life. Here you don’t feel the blows to your back. Over and over. Bloody and bruised. Here you are safe and warm. 

Join your sisters’ dance. Lose yourself to the rhythm of the sea, soundless music with notes that nonetheless resonate. Circle and circle, around and around, in a dizzying ballet. Feel the warmness in your soul grow and spread. Feel the breath of the ocean in your mouth, in your body, in your bones. Give yourself to the water. Live as you never have before. Here you belong. Here you are safe and warm. 

The sun comes up. Your time in the ocean is over. The pull of the water is strong, but the pull of land is stronger. He is your true master. You leave the circle of your sisters. Some grab at you with their mouths. You resist them. Their teeth leave little marks in your skin. Some even draw blood. You know it’s harder to leave every time you do this. You know that your resistance grows weaker. You know that one day they won’t let you leave, that you’ll join their circle forever. You long for that day, when you’ll have reclaimed what is rightfully yours. But for now, the surface pulls you back. For now, you are not your own master. For now, he owns you. You go back up to the sunlight. Your face breaks the surface of the water. The seal skin peels off and disappears below the surface. You are naked on the shore. You sit in the sand for a while, feeling the waves wash over you. You shiver. They are cold.

_ I open my eyes to sunlight streaming through the window. I leave the bed, rubbing soothingly at the new little wounds on my arms. I step out onto the balcony, wincing at the aches of my body. I bask in the sunlight. The glow warms my skin. I think I smell a hint of saltiness in the air. Soon I’ll return back to that place under the sea. Soon, I’ll go there forever. Soon, I’ll be free. But for now, I stay alone in the sunlight. For now, I am safe and warm. _

**Author's Note:**

> Vaguely inspired by The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley and also by general mythology about selkies.


End file.
